Pentecost
xxv –C
November 18th, AD 2007
Meadowvale
Lutheran Church Mississauga
Pastor
Peter Lisinski
“THE
END OF RELIGION”
(Luke
21:5-19)
Throughout
his life Jesus had what we might call a "love/hate" relationship with
the Jerusalem temple. He revered it
as the house of God; yet he also criticized it as an obstacle to the fulfillment
of God's will. Jesus' prophecy of
the temples' ultimate destruction in today's Gospel was delivered during the
final week of his life -- only a day or two after he forcibly evicted the
merchants, and challenged the managers of its sacrificial system.
In Jesus' judgment, King Solomon's original vision of the temple as a
place where the relationship between God and human beings could be restored had
been lost in its quest for political power, social prestige, and financial gain.
A
similar thing happened during the Reformation.
The medieval church taught that God's forgiveness could be purchased in
the form of indulgence certificates issued under authority of the Pope.
The more money paid, the less time would need to be served in purgatory
after death! And these indulgences
could be bought not only for one's personal use, but also on behalf of
loved ones who had
already died! Martin Luther
challenged the sale of
indulgences because
they distorted a person’s relationship with God.
People were either buying them out of fear of
God's wrath and punishment; or as a license to sin without needing to
repent. And, ever since, the Lutheran church has insisted that God's forgiveness
is a freely offered gift of divine grace received by faith in the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Which points to the deeper meaning of Jesus' prophecy of the temple's
ultimate destruction -- namely, that religion is not only unable to reconcile
human beings with God, but that religion only seems to divide people from one
another as well In Jesus'
day, those who offered the sacrifices and sin-offerings prescribed in the law
of Moses, often developed an attitude of self-. righteousness and superiority.
On the other hand, those who did not participate in the temple's
sacrificial system were labeled 'sinners', either because of the poverty which
made them unable to participate; or because they were, mistakenly, seen as
conscientious objectors -- infidels or atheists -- deliberately defying God's
sovereignty
As a result, the world was not so neatly divided into two opposing camps -- the moral and the immoral; the faithful and the unfaithful; the do-gooder and the evil doer! And religion's divisive, destructive impulses remain powerful in our world today. The same forces of religious pride, prejudice and patriotism that conspired to crucify Jesus in the name of God, continue to inspire the fear, suspicion and hatred which too often ignites violent conflict! The current civil war between Islamic factions in Iraq, sparked by the U.S.-led invasion fueled largely by Christian fundamentalism, is but the most recent example.
And so, in today's Gospel, Jesus Christ prophesies the end of religion! And by his death and resurrection, he fulfills his own prophecy. He accomplishes the reconciliation between God and human beings which institutional religion could never accomplish; and he establishes his own crucified and risen self as the new, eternal meeting place where the relationship between God and human beings is restored in holy communion
The
body and blood of Jesus Christ, in the sacramental form of
bread and wine, proclaim that God's presence in the world is no longer
confined to the Jerusalem temple -. or to any one particular place; that God's
blessing is no longer limited to the people of Israel -- or to any one
particular people; that God's love and forgiveness no longer depend on obedience
to religious rules or observance of religious ritual.
God is present in the world, now and forever, in the divine humanity of
Jesus Christ, who freely extends God's love and forgiveness to all people, and
every human being, by the grace revealed in his cross, and in the faith of those
who hear and believe the good news of his death and resurrection